The video-sharing platform started piloting the feature in 2023 with a limited number of advertisers, and now they can appear any time you pause your screen.

In a statement to The Verse, YouTube comms manager Oluwa Falodun said: "As we’ve seen both strong advertiser and strong viewer response, we’ve since widely rolled out Pause ads to all advertisers."

The company has claimed the pause ads are intended to offer a "less interruptive" experience for users.

However, they are yet to confirm or deny if the normal ads will now appear less often.

On an earning call earlier this year, Google's Philip Schindler revealed that the ads were driving strong results, and "commanding premium pricing from advertisers".

Meanwhile, YouTube has also unveiled some new AI-powered features for its content creators which even integrates generative AI into Shorts.

Creators can use Google DeepMind's VEO to generate six-seconds clips which can be merged into existing content.

Later in the year, Veo will be able to generate video backgrounds, while in 2025 YouTube will launch the standalone video clip feature.

For those consuming the content rather than creating it, YouTube will watermark all AI-generated content to make it clear to users what they are watching.